Last week, Interpol released an Orange alert at the request of Saudi Arabia. The Kingdom wants assistance gathering intelligence and/or capturing 85 terrorists with known links to al-Qaeda. Nothing too newsworthy about the alert, except that 11 of the 85 had been recently released from American custody at Guantanamo Bay.
This only adds to the debate over what to do with the detainees when the base closes. In the long run, a few dozen released terrorists won't do much harm; at least not as much as would be done by leaving Guantanamo open. The detention camp has hurt this country, both in reputation and by fueling a new generation of terrorists. But there is no need to let obviously dangerous individuals roam free.
President Obama was understandably under a lot of pressure to close the detention center following his campaign rhetoric, and he was right to make it a high priority. But perhaps he should have had a plan first.
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And what is your suggestion for a plan? Let's be less about criticizing and more about action.
ReplyDeleteHmmm...campaign rhetoric aside, I would hope that we wouldn't just willy-nilly release criminals or terrorists that pose a danger to the U.S. I wonder what "the ties" to al-Qaeda were for those eleven? Were they released because they shouldn't have been held in the first place, or were they released to fulfill a promise that shouldn't have been made? I don't know the specifics, but those are questions I would ask.
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